


Hanging by a Thread

by SaltywithSarcasm



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Denial of Feelings, F/M, First Meetings, I freaking love Bill okay, Inspired by Music, Left 4 Dead was a good game, Red String of Fate, Survival Horror, docfeng - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2020-10-11 16:01:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20548832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltywithSarcasm/pseuds/SaltywithSarcasm
Summary: The red string of fate, connecting two souls by a unbreakable bond regardless of place, time, or circumstances; Otherwise known as soulmates.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the song; Madness by Ruelle

The red string of fate, connecting two souls by a unbreakable bond regardless of place, time, or circumstances; Otherwise known as soulmates. 

Most people knew about this, most people could see the red string around their small finger when their soulmate was near, making the string glow and lead them to the other by following the magical thread that was invisible to anyone else. Although the string can get tangled or the glow begins to fade, it can never break or completely disappear. 

Soulmates are destined to meet, forever bonded by the string the connects them together; Love sees no gender, never judges but despite it’s powerful capabilities, the string never appears until after a person’s fully grown. 

Feng Min is 23 years old and has yet to find her soulmate because she never really bothered looking for them, figuring her career was more important to her than something as silly as romance but now forever trapped in a nightmare world, riddled with agony and torment, she knows she’ll never have the opportunity ever again. 

Sometimes she finds herself sitting in front of the campfire just staring down at the red string glowing around her pinkie, a constant reminder of something she’ll never have. The others barely bring the topic up since there wasn’t any point of bringing up a topic like love in a place like this but sometimes the other survivors wonder what their soulmate could be doing right now in the real world or even humored the possibility of the killers here having a soulmate of their own though they just figured they’d kill them with no mercy.

Soulmates are the last thing on her mind while she’s in a trail, her main focus is to survive and finish generators but every now and then, she catches her pinkie glowing a little bit brighter.

It’s her first time at the Léry's Memorial Institute, the cold is making her shiver as she crouches behind some crates to get to the generator as she listens to the faint heartbeats. Feng Min wonders what the killer here looks like and what they’re capable of but she really doesn’t want to find out.

A scream brings her out of her thoughts, it was close, a little too close for her comfort. She feels static running up her legs and the generator zaps her in return. Feng Min pulls away when she hears a distorted laugh not too far off and rushes to hide behind a crate, hearing the heartbeats growing louder in her head as the killer comes by to put another person up on the hook. 

She doesn’t see him but feels her pinkie growing warm, she looks down to see it glowing brighter and the string seems to extend, running along the ground in the direction of screaming but barely. Curiosity she creeps out from behind where she’s hiding to follow the string, static running up her spine until she sees Meg on the hook and the killer walking away from it, he pauses to look down at his hand and she realizes the string leads to him.

A killer. This man is her soulmate. 

Feng Min stares in disbelief and horror as the killer inspects the red string around his finger before turning to look in her direction. His eyes chill the girl to the bone as they seem to see right through her, in a panic she does the first thing that her instincts are screaming at her.

She runs.

It’s not long before shocks trails after her, licking up her legs as she runs inside the Institute to find some place to hide, pulse pounding in her ears and Feng Min glances over her shoulder to see him trailing after her. Suddenly jolts of electricity stuns her, causing her to let out a dreadful scream and grips at the sides of her head as her body shakes before falling down onto her knees. 

Her hands are twitching against the ground as her vision blurr but can make out a set of feet in front of her along with that red string.

Is he going to kill her? 

Feng Min struggles to lift her head to meet his piercing gaze, shaking as he reaches for her.

“Hey!” Someone shouts; Bill, standing at the end of the hall, waving his arms. “Lousy sack of shit, over here!”

The Doctor turns away from her to look at him, making a distorted laugh and smacks his other free hand with his spear; He turns from her to chase after the older man, leaving her stunned one the cold floor. 

He’s her soulmate, how is that possible?! How’s this lunatic supposed to be the person she’s meant to be with?!

Feng Min gets to her feet, knees wobbling as she braces herself against the walk and heads down the hallway to find a generator. Hiding is out of the question, the little red string connecting the two of them would just lead him directly to her.

“Feng Min, are you alright? You’re limping.” She hears Meg say as the red head rushes over to her side. “Here, let me heal you.” 

Feng Min mutters a quiet thanks as her friend patches her up, glancing back where the killer just stood before her...he didn’t even try to strike her with his weapon, just shocked her to keep her from running. Did someone like him even know what the red thread even mean and was just curious?

She has no idea but didn’t have long to ponder over it when she hears loud thumping inside her head, he’s coming back.

“We need to run.” Feng Min says, getting up when Meg pulls her to her feet. “Bill distracted him, he probably needs help; You help him and I’ll hunt down another gen, alright?”

“Alright but are you sure you’re able to walk?” She asks with concern but the gamer just nods and rushes off down the hallway. There’s no way she can hide from him, the red string is going to lead him right to her so she’s going to have to be fast if she’s going to want to make this out alive.

Feng Min hears a generator nearby and makes her way over to it, listening to her surroundings as she crouches down to get to work. It’s hard to do when her fingers are still trembling from the man’s attack but she manages to get the thing up and running and dashes off to find another, finding Dwight not too far off working on another one. 

He’s injured and looks like he was recently on the hook from the nasty looking wound on his shoulder. 

“This is quite a place, huh?” He laughs dryly, giving her a quick glance as she crouches down to help him. “This is your first time here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Feng Min replies, focusing on the task in front of her; Not really wanting to have a conversation right now.

“The Doctor or whatever he liked to be called is a piece of work.” Dwight mutters, pulling his hand back when he gets zapped and shakes his hand before working on it again. “Real nut job.”

“Do you think...the red string of fate be wrong?” She randomly asks, not even looking at him. 

“What? The whole soulmate thing?” He asks, raising a brow. “I don’t think so, it’s never been wrong before; Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering...” She shrugs and sits back when the generator comes to life. 

“I don’t think it really matters here though, not like we’re going to be able to get out and meet new people.” He gets up and dusts his hands off on his pants, looking around before turning back to her. “Really wish I got the courage to talk to my soulmate before I got stuck here though.” 

“So you knew them?” 

“Yeah, we were friends.” He chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I suppose she knew about it as well, guess we were both shy about it.”

“I suppose so.” She says, looking down to her own hand. “Dwight, I think-“

A scream cuts her off and they both tense up.

“Let’s talk about this later.” He says and runs off before she has a chance to say anything; She needs to tell someone, Feng Min mutters bitterly under her breath before running off as well. 

There should be one more generator that needs to be worked on then she’ll just need to get to the gate then she can tell the others when they get back to the safety of the campfire. 

Another scream followed by insidious laughter makes her jump and duck behind a desk, poking her head out to see one of her fellow survivors, Bill being sacrificed on the hook. Feng Min covers her mouth in dismay and turns away from the sight, squeezing her eyes shut as the sound of footsteps stop a few feet away from her. 

Little shocks prickle up her leg and she lets out a soft whimper, listening to the heavy breathing as she tries to make herself smaller. 

He knows she’s there, it’s only a matter of time before the Doctor traps her. 

Run.

Her mind is screaming at her to flee but she feels as if she’s glued to the spot, her legs begin feel numb from the little sparks of electricity running up them and hears him coming closer. 

Feng Min nearly jumps out of her skin when he suddenly whips around the desk, staring at her intensely with weapon in hand and she screams, jolting backwards to get away, hearing his laughter inside her head. 

“N-no! Leave me alone!” She screams, scrabbling backwards to create distance between them and watches as he stands back up, tilting his head to the side as he looks the girl over before turning his attention to the red string around his finger. 

When the Doctor looks back to her, giving her a little wave with his fingers as if he’s showing the little red string that led him directly to her. Electric sparks jump off his fingers as the killer approaches her, reaching out with his free hand but it only makes the girl scoot away in terror.

[ ... ] The Doctor makes a sound as if he’s trying to say something but it only comes out like static like an old television channel, even crouches down like he’s trying to not spook a skittish animal. Was he trying to reassure her?

Feng Min looks away from his eyes to hand with a confused expression, did he understand what the string was? 

“Are you-“ The moment is scattered by a light being shined in his face, causing the killer to stumble back and cover his eyes as Feng Min being dragged up to her feet. 

“Don’t just stand there, run!” Meg shouts, giving her a shove and forces her to run down the hallway with her, Feng Min glances back over her shoulder and sees the Doctor standing there, staring as them before turning to follow. ”What were you thinking back there?! You looked like a deer caught in headlights!”

“What? Oh...” She turns back around and follows the red head towards the library. “Where’s Dwight?”

“He was killed on the hook.” Meg mutters, crouching down next to the gem. “Come on, if we hurry, we can still make it out of here.”

“Meg, there’s something I need to say.” 

“Can’t it wait?” She replies sharply, focusing more on the gen in front of her than her trying to get something out. 

“I suppose but-“ Feng Min feels it before she sees him, shocks tickling her leg before letting out a gasp when she sees the Doctor a few feet from them.

“It’s just a hallucination.” Meg says, dismissing it before the gen starts working again. “Come on, lets get out of here.”

Feng Min gives the hallucination a glance as Meg heads towards the gates and feels like it’s watching her and to her surprise, it waves; Not a hallucination. Her eyes widen as he walks around the gen and faintly hears Meg calling for her but ignores it in favor of watching the man walk towards her.

She knows it’s probably stupid of her but she was just so curious, the man didn’t try to hurt her after he saw the bond between them; Would kill her if she just let him close?

The Doctor stops right in front of the survivor and turns his head to the side like he’s amused, making her jump when he stabs his weapon into the ground. Feng Min cowers back at his massive size, staring up at him as reaches up for her again. She feels her hair stand on end from the static electricity coming off his fingertip as he brushes his hand over her head, his touch is surprisingly gentle.

Feng Min unconsciously leans her head into the palm of his hand, feels little jolts to make her cheek tingle and distantly hears the gate being opened. That seems to break out of her haze and perks up from his touch, quickly glance to the side before looking him in the eyes again. 

How would he react if she tried to go for the gate? Would he chase her down to keep her from leaving? 

“I need to go.” Feng Min says softly, stepping back from him. His hand drops down to his side and reaches for his weapon again, pulling it out of the ground before turning from her to go back inside the institute. 

He’s letting her leave?

Feng Min stares in disbelief before turning to head to the gate, seeing Meg standing there waiting for her with her arms crossed over her chest. 

“What was that?” She asks, pointing behind the other girl. “You just stood there and let him approach you? And he didn’t even try to hook you?!”

“That’s what I was trying to talk to you about.” Feng Min comments back, following her out of the gate and holds up her pinkie. “He’s my soulmate.”


	2. Chapter 2

Feng Min feels herself being dragged away from the camp fire and appear in a trail, it’s been a while since she was last summon to one of these miserable tests, only to be surprised to find herself in the Léry's Memorial Institute once again.

She feels her heart drop and glances down at the little red string around her pinkie, it seem to glow in the dark halls...She can’t hide with this thing attached to her. 

He’ll be led right to her. 

Feng Min knows she has to run, maybe distract him long enough for the others to get the generators running so they can escape. 

The woman crouches and slowly makes her way over towards the stretchers, listening closely for any signs of a heart beat. 

She pauses when she looks down and sees her string begin to glow brighter, figuring he must have realized she was here; Maybe she could just follow the string and figure out where he’s at?

No, no. Stupid idea, why would she want to go right to the killer?!

Feng Amin shakes her head and stands up, looking for the others when she hears the faint heart beat. 

He’s coming.

She takes a step back as her eyes follows the string through another door, he’ll be coming through that way; She’s got to run, the heart beats are getting louder which means he’s getting closer.

The Doctor is following the string.

She runs in the opposite direction, down a hallway, glancing over her shoulder when she feels static licks up her legs. Feng Amin darts around the corner and spots one of the other survivors up ahead, working on a generator so she turns down another hallway to avoid leading the Doctors straight to them.

She doesn’t know where she’s heading but the throbbing in her ears isn’t fading, which could only mean he was on her trail. 

Feng Min glances down at the string, seeing how it was glowing brighter with how closer he gets. 

Electricity shoots up her legs, making her scream and almost a causes her knees to give out but she pushes through and runs into the showers to catch her breath.

Leaning against the tiled wall, she listens for the heart beats as they slowly begin to become louder before turning to run again but slips on the wet tiled floor and hits the ground hard, hitting her head on the wall she was supporting herself against; Her vision blurs and lets out a low groan. 

Her head throbs as she rolls over onto her back and opens her eyes to see a figure standing over her with glowing eyes as static laughter fills her ears. 

He attaches his weapon to the waist of his belt before leaning down to pick her up into his arms, the last thing she’s aware of is him walking down the hallway, probably to hook her before she passes out.

~*~

Her head is killing her when she wakes up, her vision is blurry and her body ached. It feels as if her arms and legs are filled with lead, unable to move her body, she tries to make out her blurry surroundings.

It doesn’t look like the campfire, it was dark and smelt like antiseptic. Feng Min tries to force herself up but her body is just not responding to her. 

That’s when she realizes her arms and legs are strapped down to the bed she was on.

“Ah, Miss Feng Min, you’re awake.” She hears the staticky voice, tensing up and turns her head in the direction of that voice. “I do apologize if you’re feeling disoriented at the moment, you hit your head pretty hard so I took it upon myself to give you some pain medication.”

“You...drugged me...” She gets out, watching him as the doctor wondered over to the other side of the room. Why is she still alive? This makes no sense.

“Have you wondered why you haven’t been summoned to any recent trails?” He asks, not even turning to look at her. 

“What?”

“You haven’t been participating any of trails as of late, have you?”

“No...that last trail was...here.” Feng Min mutters, blinking her eyes to get her vision to become more clearer. “Why?”

“I’ve spoken to the deity.” The Doctor tells her, finally turning to look at her and holds up his hand to show the finger with the string on it. “Do you know what this is?”

“...” Of course she knows what it is, it’s a freaking joke; Why would this lunatic be her soulmate? 

“It’s destiny, a string bounding two souls by fate.” He explains, running his finger along the string before looking at her again. “We were destined to meet; Soulmates, I think is what they called it.”

“You’re a murderer.”

“Destiny doesn’t make mistakes, my dear; Regardless, you’re my soulmate and even the deity understands that, which is why I requested that you only appear in my domain. Here, I won’t hunt you like the others; You will be spared.”

“What?” Feng Min stares at him with a look of surprise. She won’t be sacrificed anymore? “I thought I was here to suffer? To be sacrificed-“

“Yes but it’s not the first time a survivor has been spared due to this sort of thing; I’m aware that Jeffrey Hawk and Kate Denson have the same arrangement.”

The clown and Kate? How come she never said anything about it?

“They’re...together?” She questions, trying to sit up again but it’s useless. 

“Yes, there’s a few others but I’m the only one who’s asked to have you only appear in my domain; As far as I know, Jeffrey isn’t aware as he can ask for that.” He pulls up a chair next to the bed she’s in and sits down, looking at her with not murderous intent but...fondness. “I was quite surprised when I saw the string around my finger, I didn’t think I was worthy to even have a soulmate or be able to meet them here.”

“I didn’t think this place would allow something like that.” Feng Min mutters, curling her fingers against the sheets. This place sucks away happiness, only leaving pain and hopelessness. “Why would the deity be okay with letting two soulmates be together, I thought we were only here to feed it’s bloodlust?”

“I think there’s even something’s out of deity’s control, the red string of fate is a powerful thing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated!
> 
> SaltywithSarcasm.Tumblr.com


End file.
